Listen to the Podcast on Spotify
Listen on the web (via Podcast Addict - NO APP NEEDED)
Email me: kelly@thebitchwhisperer.me
As I have mentioned a thousand times, comedy is important to me. Musing about it once, someone asked me where I thought comedy comes from in a person's experiences.
Without hesitation I said "Pain". Many famous comics make this point clear, and Moms was no exception.
She was one of the very first female stand up comedians. She navigated a world that was dominated by white men as a black woman who had been through ...well just SO much...particularly as a child. So who was the super woman of comedy?If you watched the TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon, you were introduced to her in season 3, played by Wanda Sykes. Moms Mabley was born Loretta Mary Aiken in Brevard, North Carolina, on March 19, 1897. She was one of 16 children born to James Aiken and Mary Smith. Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, and took in boarders, as well as being a volunteer firefighter. By age 13, Mabley had already been raped and impregnated twice, and gave birth to both babies. She gave both children up for adoption. She gave birth at ELEVEN years old, people!!! I MUST interject here, that this is the reality that this country is returning to if abortion bans continue!! The first rape at age 11 was by an older black man, and the rape at 13 was by a white sheriff.
When she was 14, her grandmother encouraged her to run away because she had clearly become a target. She went to Ohio and joined a vaudeville-style minstrel show starring Butterbeans and Susie (a popular performing couple), where she sang and entertained. A year later, her father was killed when a fire engine exploded. Her mother took over the family's general store, and she was killed a few years later, run over by a truck while returning home from church on Christmas Day.
Mabley eventually became an attraction at the Cotton Club. She was told by her brother that she was a disgrace to the family name because "stage women wasn't nothing but prostitutes". So she took on the name of her former boyfriend, Jack Mabley, who was also a performer. She remarked in a 1970 Ebony interview that he had taken so much from her, the least she could do was take his name from him. She soon entered the world of film and stage as well, performing in the 1931 Broadway show Fast and Furious: A Colored Revue in 37 Scenes and taking on a featured role in Paul Robeson's Emperor Jones.
She was the first openly gay comedian, and often dressed like Cab Calloway. She was a "hep cat", baby.
In the late 1930s, Mabley broke ground as the first female comedian to grace the Apollo stage, becoming a fixture with more appearances there than any other performer. She also made a comeback in cinema with roles in films like The Big Timers (1945), Boarding House Blues (1948), and the musical revue Killer Diller (1948), alongside Nat King Cole and Butterfly McQueen.
In the 1950s, influenced by her maternal role among fellow comedians, Mabley adopted the moniker "Moms" and took on the appearance of a toothless, disheveled woman in a house dress and floppy hat. She was greatly influenced by her grandmother, who had been a guiding force in her aspirations. This non-threatening persona allowed her to tackle taboo subjects like racism, sexuality, and widowhood, which were considered too risqué for many other comedians of the era. Her comedic repertoire included a recurring bit about preferring handsome young men over "old washed-up geezers", even though she was openly lesbian. By the 1960s, Mabley began to gain recognition among a broader, predominantly white audience. She was the first woman, moreover the first black woman to perform at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall in 1962 and made numerous appearances on mainstream television, notably on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Integrating music into her act, Mabley's cover version of "Abraham, Martin and John" reached No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 19, 1969, making her, at 75 years old, the oldest person to achieve a U.S. Top 40 hit at the time. She also participated in events like the Harlem Cultural Festival during this period.
Moms influenced the style of comedy legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx,Whoopie Goldberg, Wanda Sykes, Sidney Poitier, and Eddie Murphy, who said he modeled the grandma character in Nutty Professor after her. In 2013, Whoopie produced a movie about Moms' life. Information about her was not easy to find, but the documentary is and important marker of history and of this amazing woman's life. It is called "Whoopie Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" and is available on Amazon.
Moms always remained close to North Carolina, frequently visiting family and friends in the Brevard area. She often commented: "I love North Carolina. I love the people." Once when she returned to Brevard, she tearfully observed: "Lord, what a wonderful place God picked out for me to be born in."
What an astounding attitude for someone who went through so much pain in that same place. Hats off to Moms, one more badass woman that history has skimmed over. Bravo.
Mabley eventually became an attraction at the Cotton Club. She was told by her brother that she was a disgrace to the family name because "stage women wasn't nothing but prostitutes". So she took on the name of her former boyfriend, Jack Mabley, who was also a performer. She remarked in a 1970 Ebony interview that he had taken so much from her, the least she could do was take his name from him. She soon entered the world of film and stage as well, performing in the 1931 Broadway show Fast and Furious: A Colored Revue in 37 Scenes and taking on a featured role in Paul Robeson's Emperor Jones.
She was the first openly gay comedian, and often dressed like Cab Calloway. She was a "hep cat", baby.
In the late 1930s, Mabley broke ground as the first female comedian to grace the Apollo stage, becoming a fixture with more appearances there than any other performer. She also made a comeback in cinema with roles in films like The Big Timers (1945), Boarding House Blues (1948), and the musical revue Killer Diller (1948), alongside Nat King Cole and Butterfly McQueen.
In the 1950s, influenced by her maternal role among fellow comedians, Mabley adopted the moniker "Moms" and took on the appearance of a toothless, disheveled woman in a house dress and floppy hat. She was greatly influenced by her grandmother, who had been a guiding force in her aspirations. This non-threatening persona allowed her to tackle taboo subjects like racism, sexuality, and widowhood, which were considered too risqué for many other comedians of the era. Her comedic repertoire included a recurring bit about preferring handsome young men over "old washed-up geezers", even though she was openly lesbian. By the 1960s, Mabley began to gain recognition among a broader, predominantly white audience. She was the first woman, moreover the first black woman to perform at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall in 1962 and made numerous appearances on mainstream television, notably on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Integrating music into her act, Mabley's cover version of "Abraham, Martin and John" reached No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 19, 1969, making her, at 75 years old, the oldest person to achieve a U.S. Top 40 hit at the time. She also participated in events like the Harlem Cultural Festival during this period.
Moms influenced the style of comedy legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx,Whoopie Goldberg, Wanda Sykes, Sidney Poitier, and Eddie Murphy, who said he modeled the grandma character in Nutty Professor after her. In 2013, Whoopie produced a movie about Moms' life. Information about her was not easy to find, but the documentary is and important marker of history and of this amazing woman's life. It is called "Whoopie Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" and is available on Amazon.
Moms always remained close to North Carolina, frequently visiting family and friends in the Brevard area. She often commented: "I love North Carolina. I love the people." Once when she returned to Brevard, she tearfully observed: "Lord, what a wonderful place God picked out for me to be born in."
What an astounding attitude for someone who went through so much pain in that same place. Hats off to Moms, one more badass woman that history has skimmed over. Bravo.
This episode is available now (click the image)
.png)